Going private

Many structural changes have taken place in the economy over the past two decades — a greater share for international trade in GDP, higher savings and investment rates, even increased investment in infrastructure. One change that is intuitively accepted, but not usually commented on explicitly, is the fact that theintuitively is no more in the driver’s seat; it has made way for the private sector.structural, economy, investment, intuitively, intuitively

Sins of Omission

The question today is whether all the issues that were neglected when things were going well, will now get due attention when we can see even more clearly what needs to get done.RBI, interest rates, Economy

Not a matter of choice

This editorial questions whether the two values freedom and liberty can come together?Freedom, Liberty, United States, Societies, socialist, India, constitution, directive principles

Buying spree

It is astonishing, and entirely unpredicted, that India’s outbound investment should begin to rival inbound FDI. The numbers quoted in a full-page report by the Financial Times earlier this week say that outbound investments from India in nine months this calendar year total $7.2 billion, up from$4.5 billion in all of last year, which was treble the amount in the year before.outbound investment, FDI, foreign acquisitions, Economics

A Change of Mood

There is a change in the financial scenario. Any sustained bout of fair weather on the markets creates business excesses as investors and consumers start discounting risk more and more. So it is healthy once in a while to re-assess risk equations, especially when the direction of the wind changes. If the storm that has built up now does not become a financial cyclone, and if the course corrections being made by everyone leave us with an economy that is in better over-all balance, the state of the post-shock economy may well be what the doctor ordered. It is at that point that the mood will change again, for the better.financial scenario, price-earnings ratio,foreign institutional investors (FIIs), investors, economy,

Wrong Attire

Why has India’s fashion fraternity, and indeed the official government system, not worked out a formal male attire that is suitable to the country’s mostly tropical climate, and at the same time appropriate for a business or formal context?attire, fashion, business attire, clothing, textiles,Sociology

Solutions exist

The press (including this newspaper) has been screaming blue murder about the spectrum scandal from the time it was perpetrated in broad daylight, nearly three years ago. Not only did nothing happen, the man at the centre of the scandal retained the telecom portfolio when the second UPA government was sworn in, last year.press, newspaper, spectrum, daylight, telecom, portfolio, government

Politics for winners

The Gandhi mother-son duo and the prime minister have come down on two sides of the land acquisition/environment debate. Manmohan Singh is focused on delivering 9 per cent economic growth; he sees a choice between projects to deliver that growth, and environmentalists who want the poverty-ridden status quo. The Gandhis see that the losers in the development game are asserting themselves; and, unlike the prime minister, they have to win elections. Dr Singh and his growth-focused colleagues in the government listen more to the businessmen who complain about projects being held up; their critics point to the crony capitalism that has become endemic, eroding the legitimacy of the very growth that Dr Singh is delivering.Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, environmentalists,economic growth, delivering, elections,endemic

Russian Roulette

About different games to see whether the affected player or team to appeal against the wrong decision to a higher authority.games, sports, tennis, cricket,

The Wrong War

In a week when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that combating inflation is now its primary focus, it is important to ask: is RBI fighting yesterday’s war, instead of peering into the future to glean what might be coming — as monetary policy is supposed to do? http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ninanwrong-war/434742/inflation, RBI, Reserve Bank of India